Time's Last Hope
by Time Centurion
Summary: Fluttershy had just received a most interesting book from Twilight Sparkle's library; a tale about Equestria's "untold past". Fluttershy, like most others, believes the book to be just that: a book. She would never have guessed that something so insignificant as a book could become one of the most powerful items in Equestria. Rated T for larger words, and time travel concepts.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

The breeze was cool and gentle upon her as Fluttershy trotted upon the dirt roads of Ponyville away from Twilight Sparkle's library home, with a brand new unread book in her possession. In her spare time, she loved reading, so she visited the library as often as she could. On this particular day, the yellow pegasus decided to go for something a bit different, in terms of her usual selection of books on animal care and the like. She reached into her saddlebag and retrieved the bound pages, to have a glance at the back once more. She had already fed the animals and done her other basic household chores for the day, so she had quite a bit of time off to relax.

"_Tales of the Forgotten_" rang the title. It seemed incredibly attractive, from it's dark green cover to it's gold-shining cover print. It did, however, lack an author to credit, but that didn't concern her much, as she barely noticed it. She tossed the book up into the almost cloudless blue sky, flipping it about, and catching it that she might read the back.

"_Most ponies seem born with knowledge,_" the book began, "_Certain stories have been imprinted into our minds, as though no one taught them, but all had known them since the moment they were born. This very book contains information along the same lines, with the difference being that these tales are wholly unknown to the entire equine population. Amazement and shock are only the beginning…_"

A small enthusiastic whisper echoed throughout the moderately crowded Ponyville streets, barely heard over the idle chatter of the citizens; "Oh my. That's one way to capture the reader's attention," and it was. Fluttershy, continuing down the roads, made a right turn past SugarCube Corner while tucking the book away, back into her saddlebag. She went a bit slower as she passed by the larger bakery, keeping a close eye out to see if Pinkie Pie would materialize and say hi, but she must have been busy baking cupcakes or other goodies. Fluttershy went along past it, and followed the long road that eventually led into rural Ponyville, near the Everfree forest, where her home lay in wait for her return. The path had a light brown fence running along the left of it, and the Everfree forest not far off to it's right. It was quite a scenic route. She noticed a rainbow-colored blurr appear above her head for a moment, followed by a very speed distorted, "Hey Fluttershy!" She almost immediately recognized Rainbow Dash's voice.

"Hi Dash," she let out a tiny response. Dash was undoubtedly within hearing range, or, as Dash liked to say, "Pranking range". She did love pranks.

"Where ya off to?" asked a very, VERY nearby voice. Fluttershy spun around to greet her more properly, and almost collided with the cyan pegasus. She jumped and backed up a few feet, and replied with a timid, "To my house. I just picked up the most interesting book from Twili-,"

"Cool," interrupted Dash, unintentionally. Fluttershy knew that that, after all, was just her personality. She began trotting down the road, toward her home again, and Dash hovered next to her as she went, sending gentle drafts spiraling around her. "I was just gettin' rid of a few clouds that strayed into _my_ turf. See how clear it is?" The rainbow-accented pegasus raised a hoof to the skies.

"Oh yes, Dash. It's very nice," replied the yellow pegasus, smiling as bright as the sky, which was now entirely clear.

"Ahh," breathed Rainbow, "I can feel a breeze coming in from the West. More clouds on the way. The more, the merrier, eh?" she laughed. "I'll catch you around."

"Ok. Bye Dash-" Fluttershy barely finished her sentence before Rainbow Dash bolted away, leaving the seven colors of white light as a trail in her wake.

By the time Dash was gone, Fluttershy was coming upon her humble cottage. The birds sang in the nearby forest as she approached the small, green entryway. As she reached it, she opened the latch that held the door closed, and entered home sweet home.

As she walked into her cozy living room, she took into consideration that she may not have completed all of her daily chores. She couldn't rest or relax until everything that needed to be done had been done, so she went over a mental list. "Laundry; done," her soft voice caressed the wooden walls of her home as she shut the door, gently, behind her. "Animals; fed. Plants; watered," she trotted over to her stairwell as the list was finished. "New book; to be read as soon as possible," she murmured happily, concluding the list. She was at the top of the stairwell at this point, advancing down the ornately decorated wooden corridor toward her bedroom. When she reached the familiar doorway, emblazoned with three pink colored yellow-outlined butterflies, she pushed ever-so-slightly. It opened, creaking in protest of the exertion.

Fluttershy placed her bag just to the left of the door that led into her room, but ensuring that it was relieved of its book-related contents first. Her room was small, but cozy, and she loved it. The floorboards of the room were of oak wood of a light, soft brown, while the walls of were of a bright, soothing minty green, with a ceiling to match. The walls were rather undecorated, aside from the occasional yellow-bordered photograph of herself and Angel, or her and her friends. The room contained a single large window, overlooking the quaint garden which hid itself within the shadow of the house. Luckily, the window was on the Eastern side of the house, so the sun's rays weren't blindingly bright at this time of day. The afternoon sun was setting, causing the nearby Everfree forest to cast long, dark shadows. Fluttershy never was a big fan of Everfree, but it helped keep the animals happy, and she loved her home, and had no intentions of moving.

Besides that which could not be relocated (easily), a bed of reasonable statue, whose ornately decorated backboard was made of an elegant dark wood, held its ground just to the left of the window (from the perspective of one who had just entered the room, like Fluttershy). To its left, a small nightstand made from the same type of wood as the bed's backboard quietly kept itself. Upon it rested another book in Fluttershy's temporary collection, "The Gardener's Guide To All Things Green", accompanied by a rather small but practical night lamp, designed with forest creatures and flowers.

Fluttershy had a bit of a galloping start as she leapt onto her bed, which creaked and squeaked in response. She made a bit of a mess, but it was nothing too noticeable. Her beautiful light-pink mane bounced with her on the plushy mattress. The book, which she had tossed onto her bed from the doorway, fell in beside her, bouncing in sync with her, and coming to a rest as she did. She tucked herself under her covers, and took the book in her hooves ,allowing it to fall open to the first page. Flipping through the formalities, copyrights, and so on, Fluttershy came upon the first chapter in, as she did not yet know, one of the most powerful and influential books she would ever come upon, from the point of initial retrieval to the end of time, itself.


	2. Chapter 1: Never Would Have Guessed

**Chapter One**

* * *

**Never Would Have Guessed…**

The very first page of the first chapter of the grand tome of history was eternally marked with the title; "_Chapter One:_ _The Truth is not to be Overlooked_". The light-daisy pegasus, with interest piqued, allowed her blue-green knowledge-hungry eyes to feed upon the ink within the bound book.

"_Perhaps you are unsure_," the book began, "_of your reasoning for selecting this book out of so very many other choices. You are likely not aware, but your future has been seen by us. We knew you were destined to find this collection of pages. You have set into motion a turning of events that cannot be discontinued, **FLUTTERSHY**._" Upon seeing her own name etched into this great tome, which she had never seen before in her entire life, her eyes grew wide enough to make the full moon jealous, and she looked up to glance wearily and concernedly around the small, hidden room. After a bit of panicked searching, she assumed she was alone, and cautiously read on. "_Time itself is never to end, but to be flow on. However, the TimeLine is in peril, and only one in this whole universe can save it. That one is _**you**_. Contained in this book are multiple unknown tales of Equestrian history. These incredibly influential stories that occurred in the past that affect us today have been left all but forgotten. We have put the fate of fate with you. While these historical documents may seem insignificant, they affect something much larger than the simple remembrance of their tales. NOW, **SLEEP**._"

And at that, Fluttershy's head made sudden contact with her pillows as she steadily lost consciousness.

Fluttershy awoke to a great white expanse, seemingly endless and unchanging, encasing her. She began to glance about, panic-stricken, until she noticed a sort of change in the never ending nothing. A small circle of the white, that looked like it was on the floor, gradually turned from white itself, to an angry thundercloud gray, to an obsidian jet black. She moved closer to it, and looked upon the difference between the whiteness and blackness that formed, and the gray rift that both connected and separated them. Two separate things, two separate ideas, both joined and completely different in a single instance.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" appeared a voice behind her. She squeaked in surprise and jumped, her head nearly hitting the unseen ceiling, and spinning herself around during the process as to locate the source of the voice. Fluttershy almost immediately made eye contact with a darkly hooded stallion. She jumped back with another squeak of surprise. The shadow stallion was about one inch taller than herself, and roughly the same size as her. His dark cloak covered almost his entire body, but judging by every bit of visible evidence, he appeared to be a dark navy blue earth pony. His eyes shone light blood red in the dimmed light under his hood. He, while rather amused, seemed to understand the filly's concern, and allowed her to catch her breath before speaking again. As he waited for her breathing to settle, he began to look all around himself at the pure white surrounding them. He appeared to be scanning everything. Fluttershy was a bit confused to as of why, considering everything aroubd them was the same, except for that little black spot on the floor. After she appeared calm, the shadow in the lightness faced her and spoke. "Fear not, Fluttershy. I have been sent to teach you of the things you will be faced with on your journey through Time, as well as the consequences of your actions upon Time's fragile flow." Fluttershy could only respond by looking at the darkness which could speak before her, baffled and reasonably terrified.

"Oh dear. You are Fluttershy, are you not?"

"Y-y-yes…" Fluttershy spoke, nearly inaudible.

"Then you HAVE consciously chosen the book… you do seem confused, though. They must have had one of the younger write the introduction this time… the young ones never do make it clear. Allow me to explain. Ah, but I seem to have forgotten my manners." The shadow took a step backwards, and paused to clear it's throat. "Greetings, Ms. Fluttershy. I am known by name as ShadowForge; head of the Keepers of Time itself. I am quite pleased to make your acquaintance," the shadow bowed with a great flourish of it's cloak, darkness rippling against lightness behind him.

"N-nice to m-m-meet you…" stumbled a confused Fluttershy in response to the shadow's formalities.

"Now now, Fluttershy. No need to be scared. This is, after all, just a dream. However, I recommend you take any dreams you have from this point on MUCH more seriously. As I said, allow me to explain."

The shadow took another step backwards, cleared it's unseen throat once more, and slowly glided toward the rift of color in the world of eternal white surrounding them.

"I saw that you noticed the Distortion. It is rather hard to miss in a world of white, after all," the words materialized and echoed about the empty halls and unseen rooms scattered throughout the white.

"Do you understand its symbolism?"

"I-I'm not understanding much right now…" struggled the pegasus in a near silent voice, happy that this was all just a dream.

"Our current location in your mind, this eternal white, the never ending nothing around us, represents Time itself," philosophized the shadow. "Time is eternal. Time has no start, and no finish. Though, Time can be empty if not taken and used. Pure white, like a clean slate. Like your memories of the events in the book are, right now. The pure white everywhere shows you haven't read enough to retain any memories of the past. Yet, of course. And as for what you're seeing here," the shadow gestured at the rift in color, but more at the pure obsidian black than anything else, "represents the doom hanging over all of us; a Distortion in Time within our universe. Essentially, this Distortion is a place that acts like a black hole in the TimeLine. As it progresses through our past, it eats everything it comes into contact with. It is literally eating the past away, and it is moving toward the present at a greater speed than our current Time flow. For every one second we experience, it experiences two. When it finally reaches the present…" the shadow trailed off. "What the black is showing is the end of Time, which is literally impossible, as Time is infinite. This impossibility combined with Time's true nature caused the Distortion to gain such power. The white; normal, infinite, Time, endless and undying, is fighting back against the spreading, corrupting distortion. But it's losing. We, the Keepers of Time, have been carefully watching over the Distortion, preventing it's spread for as long as we could. Though, sad as it is, we have grown less and less able to hold it as it's power grew, until it rendered us powerless altogether." His eyes shone for a moment as, behind Fluttershy, the Distortion expanded. "This is why we needed to find one who could destroy the Distortion altogether. One who was not a Keeper of Time, but one who still had a heart large enough to care about the whole world. That one became _you_, Fluttershy. It became you when you picked that book up from your friend Twilight Sparkle's library. That book you think you chose, unknowing that in reality, it was the book that had found _you_. And I bet you never would have thought that something as simple as a little book could make you strong enough to save the world."

Fluttershy looked around for something to sit down on and consider everything, but upon finding nothing, she simply sat on the ground, looking dazed.

After a pause, the pegasus started; "S-so what you're saying is that… t-time… is at war with itself…? A-and if it is left alone… it will bring about the e-end of everything… and only I can stop it? B-but what does any of this have to do with that book? And how, if even possible, c-could I battle against the e-end of the world? …And why me, of all ponies…?"

The shadow's eyes moved over the trembling Fluttershy, followed by a long-winded sigh.

"The book that you are now in possession of," the shadow caused the book to appear on the white floor before her, which seemed impossible, since he was not a unicorn, "this book, is capable of taking you back in Time. For every chapter you complete in the story, a dream will be blessed to you on the same night. A dream identical to whatever chapter you had read that day. You will be literally dreaming the past. The only difference between a normal dream, and a dream of the past, is that your actions in a dream of the past can change the past for better, or worse. You would be changing the past through your dream. Rewriting history. Any and all dreams you have from this point on are NOT to be taken lightly under any circumstances. Even a little difference in the past could change the entirety of our present." He paused for a moment and moved around Fluttershy, standing behind her ominously. She barely noticed through her confusion. "Now, while in these dreams of the past, your main goal is to prevent monstrous changes in the past while searching for the Distortion. We wrote that book," the shadow appeared in front of her again out of nowhere, and gestured to the book before the lost Fluttershy, "as a doorway to the Distortion. Or so we think. After years of research, the Keepers have narrowed the Distortion's location in our past timeline down to one of several, which brings us to require outside assistance. Since we, the Keepers of Time, are now powerless to the Distortion's unrelenting force, we would be quickly removed from the past and present if we were to come into close proximity with it. Aside from that, all Keepers MUST retain temporal balance throughout our existences. If we were to travel in time, even in our dreams, we would be swiftly vaporized. Though, apart from saving ourselves from a most gruesome fate, we also used the book as a test. You see, not many care about Equestria's untold history. Many great heroes have fallen forgotten, for ignorance's sake. Only those who truly took others into consideration would dare look upon such a tome, let alone show such undying enthusiasm towards it. And, likewise, only someone with a big enough heart to carry the world would be capable of saving it in its darkest hour. You may have found your desire to read the book a bit… unusual… but that is to be expected. After all, the book alerted us that it found the Savior of the TimeLine. But," the shadow's voice deepened, "remember this, Fluttershy. Choose your actions carefully. The Distortion is closing in on the present. It will not give us any more chances to alter the flow of Time's past. You are now, officially, our final hope. And, remember…" the shadow's voice bounced off the invisible walls of time until it began to fade, with the shadow's physical form following it's voice into silence; nothingness; oblivion, until the shadow was gone from the plane of time within the mind of the overloaded light-daisy pegasus. And at last, a whisper from nowhere and everywhere, deafening and silent, twisted it's way into her ear as she struggled to make sense of what had just happened, and she jumped one, final time.

"_We're watching you._"

And with that, Fluttershy's consciousness returned to her.

The shy pegasus woke with a start, jolting upright in her bed, gasping for air. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She took a moment to assure herself that this world that she was in now WAS the real world. After she calmed down a bit more, she felt amazed at how real some dreams felt. She had had vivid dreams such as that before, but nothing felt so very real. She shuffled a bit in her bed, and felt something pressing into her hind leg through her blankets. Something sharp. She moved back a bit more to see what it was, and saw a corner of that fated book poking into her. It was open. She moved it over to herself so she could see what had happened to the pages as she fell asleep the night before, to ensure they did not flip open to a random page. The first thing she saw was her own name, **FLUTTERSHY**, in giant font. She was relieved, only to have that relief interrupted by a chill of pure fear running down her spine a few moments later. She was happy that another random chapter was not opened, so that the story wouldn't be ruined, only to have reality whack her like a brick wall. "That… that dream _was_ real…" she verbally realized to nothing in particular. Nothing responded with the branch of a dark tree knocking repeatedly against the one window of her bedroom. She jumped, again, but after noticing what the noise was, she blushed lightly, glanced around, and focused on the branch. She noticed that the sky behind it was slightly dark. It must have been very early in the morning. She wanted to fall asleep again, but she couldn't out of fear of another dream. She was trembling slightly in the soft bed.

"Dreaming the past… time at war with itself… and now I'm in the middle of it all…"

Fluttershy thought that perhaps a walk would help her feel better. She could also use it as time to think over what had just happened. She could still barely believe that one book could save or destroy the world. And that it just so happened to be the one out of hundreds of books that _SHE_ decided to choose.

Fluttershy half jumped, half fell out of bed, but successfully landed on all four hooves. She inched toward the doorway drowsily. She stumbled into the small corridor that connected her room to her bathroom, and the creaky yet stable wooden stairway that led into the lower section of the tree she called home. Though, she felt it was much more comfortable than one of those suspended tree houses. And much safer. Moving toward the stairwell slowly, as not to disturb the sleep of Angel or any other beings that would have awoken from almost any sound at this hour of the morning, Fluttershy thought over whether or not she should participate in what ShadowForge called, "hunting for the Distortion" as she moved.

"If I were to hunt for the Distortion through the past, through my dreams, I might change history, if ShadowForge wasn't lying…" her small, gentle voice barely echoed through the tiny corridor, too quiet and too adorable to awaken any living creature. "If he was telling the truth, then the world will… e-end…" she stuttered, "unless I stop it… I wonder if anyone else has e-ever tried this before me… and w-what happened to them…?" She, on second thought, really did not want to know the answer. Whatever their fate was, it certainly couldn't have been good, or else the Distortion wouldn't exist anymore. She had just reached her green-painted doorway and pushed it open, gently as always.

Once she entered the outdoors, she almost immediately felt better. The fresh air of that summer morning, with the early-waking birds tweeting in the woods behind her home, and the first few rays of the sun peeking over the horizon reminded her that in this world, right now, all was still well. She began to slowly trot down the dirt path that led away from her cottage, and began to consider the pros and cons of participation in these "dream hunts". The pros toward her participation inevitably won, considering that the cons contained the end of the world, which was rather undesirable. She was scared, but she told herself and set her mind, right there upon that natural path on that clear, fresh summer morning, that she would read a single chapter of the time tome each night before drifting off into sleep. Into her dreams. Into the past. She would find the Distortion, and end it.

She shivered, mostly out of fear, but slightly out of cold. She began moving slightly faster, to warm herself up. She had not previously considered her destination, but after a moment of thought and a reality check, considering that the road fed directly into Ponyville's streets, she figured that today, she would visit with her friends. And, if she could casually bring up this impossible topic, she would. Perhaps Twilight would understand some of it. She looked up into the early morning sky, quite a dark blue color, but turning more orange as Celestia's sun overtook the skies, with the occasional white tuft of cloud as contrast. There was still a small amount of moonlight scattering itself around Equestria's land and skies, and with the sun's bright, blazing orange, Fluttershy's normally pink mane became a beautiful flaming luminous gray-silver color. She considered something that ShadowForge had not brought up; how exactly _was_ she supposed to eliminate the Distortion? A rip in time that destroyed everything around it seemed rather… unstoppable. She began to feel like she understood her troubling situation, all except for that one incredibly important piece of information. But as she trotted towards the ever-nearing Ponyville on that cool, bright morning, with recently formed dew coating the emerald green grass and the moon's light waving its last goodbye through the shaking trees, Fluttershy thought to herself; "…I know… everything… will be ok in the end."

Since, after all, the Equestria had just gained its greatest unsuspecting defender: Fluttershy; Savior of the TimeLine.

* * *

_(Quick note from the author: You'll have to excuse me if this chapter drags on a bit. It's rather... difficult... to explain a situation like time travel, or time concepts in general, without having a certain knowledgeable "Shadow" explain everything in bloody massive paragraphs. I don't intend on making the other chapters drag on like this. Anyway, I'm currently working on Chapter 2, and you can expect that... uh... at some point... soon... _

_Aside from that, thanks for your "time" (ugh, like I haven't heard that enough already) and support, and I hope you have a wonderful whatever time of day it is for you right now._

_Um... bye. -TimeCenturion)_


End file.
